Southington Water Plans $5M Upgrade

SOUTHINGTON — Water service, both its volume and pressure, will be improved on the town's east side by a million-gallon water storage tank off Andrews Road and a new booster pump station on high school property.

The Eastside Pressure Zone project will cost $5.7 million. A loan from a state drinking water fund will provide short-term financing for the work. Long- term financing will come from the sale of bonds.

The town council has set a Jan 13 public hearing on the bonding ordinance.

The project, several years in the planning by the water department, resulted from a hydraulic study of the town and its water system. The study was done to determine the best site for more storage for the gravity-fed system, which is used by 12,000 customers.

"It will greatly increase fire flows and volume and will allow us to extend water service to residents now using wells if they decide to use the system," Water Department Superintendent Fred Rogers said Thursday. "This is a win-win situation. It will improve water pressure to Chesterwood Terrace and Windemere Ridge Drive, sections where pressure is low."

The water tank will be built on a 460-foot-high parcel off Smith Street. A 2,500-foot main pipe will connect the tank to the proposed pumping station.

At an October meeting of the school board, Rogers said the booster station would be behind the high school, about 300 feet off the road, and have a façade that would blend in with the school building. Initial plans call for the pump building to be 10 feet by 20 to 30 feet.

The building will muffle the sound of the pumping so there will be no effect inside the school, Rogers told school board members.

On Thursday, Rogers said the new tank and pump system probably would be completed in 2016.